Construction Management Also 02Means Managing Job Cost The Construction Management Association of America defines the discipline of construction management quite well. According to CMAA, Construction management is a professional service that provides a project’s owner(s) with effective management of the project’s schedule, cost, quality, safety, scope, and function.” Today, the term construction management software is interchanged with project management, project controls, and collaboration among many others. However, when evaluating a construction project management solution, it is important to consider all the capabilities your organization needs to properly manage construction. Core to the best solutions available on the market today is the budget and cost management module. To be considered a professional-grade construction management solution, the software must have a core foundation in managing job costs. The premise is simple but missed by so many vendors. What value is it to manage RFIs and Daily Reports extraordinary well if you can not capture the cost impact of issues and pending changes? You could end up with having managed thousands of RFIs but lost the profitability of your project because of cost overrun. In today’s modern cloud-based construction management solutions, newer entrants are completely missing this vital capability leaving contractors to manage their project on Excel spreadsheets. Others are just recently developing lite job cost management solutions into their software. Don’t be fooled. Look for software that has proven budget and cost management modules that have been battle-tested over many years. ACTION: Inspect (in detail) the budget and cost management capabilities when evaluating various software. Some modern cloud solutions, like ProjectSight, have been built using the litigation tested capabilities of their predecessor (in this case Meridian Prolog) and are considered one of the most trusted budget and cost management solutions available. 5 Factors You Must Consider in a Project Management Software Provider